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Big awards for Fort Morgan electric utility

Fort Morgan Mayor Ron Shaver accepts the American Public Power Association RP3 Award the Fort Morgan Light & Power Department received from Fort Morgan Utilities Director Brent Nation Tuesday night at the Fort Morgan City Council meeting. Nation also presented the plaque for a second award the city won from APPA for safety in the city's municipal electric utility. (Jenni Grubbs / Fort Morgan Times)

When Fort Morgan City Manager Jeff Wells first brought up the idea of seeking the American Public Power Association's RP3 designation to Doug Linton, the electric department superintendent was not sure about it.

"Jeff had mentioned it in the past, and I was a little kind of nervous about trying it," Linton told the Fort Morgan City Council.

After all, going after this designation would mean a fair amount of work for the Fort Morgan Light & Power Department, including lots of documentation.

But it was something Linton and his crew tackled this year, and it paid off.

"We were lucky enough to get this on our first try," he told the council.

Fort Morgan Water Resources/Utilities Director Brent Nation and Light & Power Superintendent Doug Linton speak to the Fort Morgan City Council Tuesday night about a couple awards the city electric utility won from the American Public Power Association. (Jenni Grubbs / Fort Morgan Times)

And receiving this designation, let alone on that first try, was no small achievement, according to Fort Morgan Water Resources/Utilities Director Brent Nation.

"There are not a lot of municipal power associations, or entities like ourselves, that have this award," Nation said of the Reliable Public Power Provider (RP3) designation.

In fact, Fort Morgan Light & Power is one of only five public power utilities in Colorado to receive this designation, according to Linton. There are 220 public power utilities across the nation that have earned it, according to the city.

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"Utilities that have earned an RP3 designation demonstrate public power's emphasis on achieving leading practices and providing a high level of service to communities," stated Brent McKinney, director of electric transmission and distribution at City Utilities of Springfield, Mo., and chair of the Association's RP3 Review Panel. "We are proud to welcome all utilities earning this recognition for the first time and to those renewing their designations."

Fort Morgan Director of Utilities Brent Nation (center left) and Light & Power Superintendent Doug Linton (center right) accept a 2016 first-place Safety Award of Excellence during the American Public Power Association's annual conference in San Antonio. The Fort Morgan officials are pictured with Rick Aguilar, chair of the APPA Safety Committee and director of job training and safety at Kansas Municipal Utilities (left) and Mike Hyland, senior vice president of engineering services at APPA (right). (City of Fort Morgan / Courtesy photo)

Among the criteria factored into earning that designation were a public electric utility's reliability, customer service, workforce development and safety, Linton explained. It took "a lot of data" to show how the city utility was doing in those areas.

"I'm proud of this one," Linton told the council. "It shows our customers that we're doing all we can for them and our municipal utilities."

Wells also offered praise to Linton and the electric department.

"I had mentioned to him a few years ago, 'This RP3 thing I heard about, how would we do on that?'" the city manager recalled. "He was a little apprehensive, but one thing about the electric department, if you ask them to do something, they get it done."

Wells also was both surprised and pleased to see the city electric utility get the award so quickly.

"You usually have to apply several years, and the fact that they were able to get it the first year is really a testament to the fact that they do an excellent job in that department," he said. "We should all be grateful every morning when we turn on the lights that we've got that dedicated group of people that are making sure we're safe and that those lights are going to come on when we need them."

Nation said the Fort Morgan electric department workers "are there providing power and making sure that our customers are being served all the time and trying to minimize the amount of outages and everything with running this type of electric system."

Mayor Ron Shaver, who had retired as the city's utilities director, also chimed in, pointing to the increased reliability of the Fort Morgan electric system.

"We've had years when the squirrels were terrible," Shaver recalled about years when electric outages were regular occurrences. "You guys have really, really cut down on the outages."

The mayor also pointed to the timeliness and consistent response from the Light & Power Department crews to any calls or citizen complaints.

"That's a reflection of your department, the integrity that you guys have within that department," Shaver told Linton.

The electric department also won a second award from the American Public Power Association, with that one being specifically about safety.

"The safety award, it's basically your incidents, your accidents, how you document it and report it," Linton told the council. "We were fortunate enough this year to get first place."

Fort Morgan has what APPA consider a medium utility, serving more than 5,000 customers.

Over the course of 2016, the Fort Morgan Light & Power workers logged 23,000-plus hours on the job and exposed to power lines and the electric system with "no accidents," Linton said. "We had one incident, but we still ended up in first place."

The electric superintendent said he make safety a top priority for his department.

"We start there and finish there during the days," Linton said. "I was happy to receive this and proud of this one."

The mayor said he should be proud.

"You have to watch out for each other," Shaver said. "You guys get one oops on your job... it's a very highly skilled, dangerous position."

The mayor called the electric department "a great asset to our city and the community."

Nation and Linton travelled to San Antonio, Texas, last week for the APPA Engineering & Operations Technical Conference conference. There, they found out about winning the awards and had them formally received them. The two city officials presented them to the council Tuesday night since the council is the electric utility's governing body.

"When it comes to electric utility operations, safety is a top priority for everyone involved, from lineman to operator," stated Rick Aguilar, chair of the APPA Safety Committee and director of job training and safety at Kansas Municipal Utilities, who presented the award at the APPA conference. "These utilities have embraced a culture of safety while serving their local communities and deserve to be recognized."

"Fort Morgan Light and Power takes a lot of pride in its safety record," said Nation. "When you're in the business we are in, sending our folks home safe to their families is our top priority."

The American Public Power Association serves as the voice for nonprofit, community-owned electric utilities across the United States, It offers training, certifications, advocacy and advising on policies, technology, trends and operations to its members in 2,000 towns and cities across the nation, according to a city news release.

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